PLUS

Numbers 14:6-11 “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneth, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?”

Numbers 32:13 “And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.”

The LORD’s plan for the Israelites was magnificent. He prepared the Promised Land for them as they escaped Egyptian captivity. It was a land that flowed with bounty and blessings, and was designed to be a perfect homeland for God’s people. Joshua and Caleb had scouted it out, and it was more than they could even imagine. Yet, because of the Israelite’s lack of faith, they rebelled against that plan. As a result, they wandered in the wilderness for decades until they finally were spiritually prepared to take possession of what God has prepared for them all along.

In our lives and in our country, God’s plan will be fulfilled. Our ability to participate, whether now or forty years from now, is contingent on our faithfulness. It is far better to enter our promised lands now than trigger a decades-long spiritual preparation of wandering in the wilderness.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO CLING TO FAITHFULNESS THAT WILL ALLOW US TO ENJOY THE LORD’S BOUNTY AND BLESSINGS THAT HAVE BEEN DESIGNED FOR US ALL ALONG. It is far better to demonstrate faithfulness now than to wander in the wilderness for decades.

Matthew 20:25-28 “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”

I Kings 3:9 “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”

I vividly remember my first time in New York City. It was my freshman year in college, and I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of everything in Manhattan. As a small town boy, it was the grandiose in every way.

During that trip, I met several very nice gentlemen who always seemed to want to sell me strangely inexpensive watches. The ones that particularly caught my eye were the ones with Gucci emblazoned on the face for only $15 – what a steal!

These watches looked real and they worked like they were real. My friends explained the truth of these watches, but I came up with a brilliant plan. I bought one for my younger brother and gave it to him for Christmas. To add to the mystique of the gift, I went to an actual Gucci store and bought a real watch box, which ended up being slightly more expensive than my timepiece purchased on the streets of Manhattan. My brother and my parents were amazed at my generosity. For years, my brother only brought out his new watch on special occasions, and he treasured this extravagant gift from his beloved sibling.

Several years later, as his gift for graduating from high school, I bought him the exact same watch, but from a real Gucci store. He was confused – why would I get him another watch when his still worked perfectly? That’s when I told him that in spite of the well adorned façade, the original was a fake and this one was real.

Life is full of fakes. Sometimes they are obvious, and sometimes they are not. Sometimes they are counter-cultural and sometimes they are based on the prevailing pressure of society. Either way, God calls for our judgments to be filled with understanding and discernment to sort out the real from the fake.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO REVEAL THE FAKES AND DISCERN THE GENUINE ARTICLES IN A SOCIETY ENGULFED IN CONFUSION. Just because it seems to work for a while doesn’t mean that it is real and authentic.

I Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

II Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

II Corinthians 12:9-10 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”

An interesting experiment was conducted on unsuspecting passengers several years ago in the Mediterranean Sea. These lucky people had been notified that they were “winners” of a free large boat cruise in the picturesque scenery on Europe’s southern coast. Throughout the cruise, they were given a survey to measure satisfaction, and the results were off-the-charts. That was until the real experiment kicked into action.

At one of the ports, a larger boat filled with actors pulled up next to them, and the “passengers” on that boat were enjoying themselves thoroughly. At the next survey of satisfaction, the passengers on the original boat had their positive ratings plummet. It wasn’t good enough that they were on a fun, free vacation when others seemed to have an experience that was more, better, and bigger.

Isn’t that typical of humanity!? Isn’t that typical of us!?

We have far more than we deserve, yet we quickly become restless when we see someone else with a bit more. Far to often, our satisfaction is tethered to unwise comparisons and unhelpful covetousness. It saps our joy and squanders our jubilation. Instead, in every thing we should give thanks. We should be content with whatever we have. We should avoid comparisons. And, we should even take pleasure in our infirmities. That is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD PROPERLY REPRESENT OUR APPRECIATION TO OUR MATCHLESS SAVIOUR THROUGH EVER-PRESENT JOY AND CONTENTMENT. Regardless of the status of those around us, with Christ our satisfaction should be off-the-charts.

II Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

II Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

Matthew 25:26-27 “His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.”

I Corinthians 12:11 “But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”

The Beatles are almost undisputedly the most famous band ever, selling over 600 million records. Specifically, the duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney have been revered since when they began writing songs together in 1963.

It was from the beginning that they agreed to list their names on the song credits alphabetically: Lennon-McCartney. But, as they got more famous, Paul McCartney became bitter that his name was listed second instead of first. Starting in 1976, he began individually buying up the rights to the songs and switching the order to McCartney-Lennon. A resultant legal feud began with Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, in 1995 who called McCartney “ridiculous, absurd, and petty.” The entire situation was only resolved legally in 2003, but as late as 2015, McCartney was still bitterly bringing it up in interviews.

For anyone looking in from the outside, there was plenty of fame, adulation, power, prestige, and wealth to go around. Yet, Paul McCartney compared himself to John Lennon, solely on the basis of the order of the listing of their names on the song credits, and it drove him nuts. Ridiculous, absurd, and petty are massive understatements.

Yet, how often do Christians compare ourselves to one another, in spite of all our blessings. In doing so, we too are ridiculous, absurd, and petty.

We are responsible for finishing the course God has given us. We are to exercise proper, careful, and wise stewardship – not as compared to what someone else has – but with what we have been given. In doing so, we best fulfill God’s plan for us and bring Him the glory and honor that He deserves.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO FOCUS ON GOD’S MISSION FOR US AND NOT TO BE DISTRACTED BY THE ACTIVITIES OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OTHERS. May God’s people never be ridiculous, absurd, and petty.

ADMIN: The Lennon-McCartney story comes from “The Status Game” by Will Storr.

II Chronicles 7:14-16 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.”

I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This coming Monday, March 25^th, marks the 11^th anniversary of the start of the PLUS ministry. It was birthed from a passionate concern about the errant direction our nation was headed then, and those concerns have only intensified during the last 11 years. We are facing an acute and a chronic crisis.

On that first week of PLUS, I posted the following:

“Leadership consultants remind us that ‘a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.’ The meaning behind this statement is quite simple — the worse the situation, the more incentive there is to reflect upon badly needed changes.  Failing to change course under such dire circumstances piles tragedy upon crisis.

Reflecting upon the situation in which our nation finds itself, it is difficult to describe it as anything but a crisis.  It is an economic crisis and a political crisis; it is a moral crisis and a value crisis; it is a leadership crisis and a followership crisis.  Yet, while the situation worsens, the nation continues to diverge from God without considering the correlation because between our unfaithfulness and our unfruitfulness.

We need national-level healing in our land that comes from a permanent change of direction toward humility, prayer, faithfulness and righteousness.  Fortunately, the model of salvation-producing repentance should be familiar to us, one in which we reverse our direction away from the world and towards God.”

Today, we see crisis upon crisis, and tragedy upon tragedy. We have entered a perpetual vicious spiral that is dragging our society downward. While not a perfect correlation, the World Happiness Report released this past week reinforces the tragic tumbling of American society. Though many don’t realize it, the root of our problems is our eagerness to increasingly untether from the stability of foundational principles and unmoor from the surety of Biblical truths. Instead of eagerly running towards the Lord, we sprint away from Him.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICANS TO REASSESS OUR RECKLESS REMOVAL FROM OUR FOUNDATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND TO RECOGNIZE THE REQUIREMENT FOR A RAPID RETURN THROUGH REVIVAL. If we don’t, we will continue to see a society characterized by crisis upon crisis.